The term Archetype is a word used commonly in the study of psychology and
philosophy. Greek philosopher Plato was
the first person to come up with the basic principles of Archetype, which he
called Forms at the time. Famous psychologist
Carlo Jung then picked up Plato’s theory and developed it further; the theory,
in his definition, is that an archetype is a mould for one’s personality, and could
provide justification for an individual’s pattern of behaviour.
To better understand the meaning of
the word, it is wise to begin by looking at its origin. The word archetype first appeared in English in
the 1540s, it came from the Latin word archetypum
which derived from Greek noun archetupon;
after breaking the word apart, it is found that arche means the beginning,
and tupos means pattern. As a compound, archetupon
means first-moulded.
There are many known archetypes so far, such includes: The
Actor, Artist, Prince, Angel, Hermit, and much more. The existence of certain
archetypes within an individual may be very obvious, while others may not have
been discovered by their owner, yet.
In theory, an individual’s archetypes are part of who he is,
and can play valuable roles in the social, mental, physical and spiritual parts
of his life. Although Archetypes are ancient and universal models of
personality, they can be personalized based on the desires of their owner. Throughout
the courses of one’s life, he may make decisions, either consciously or
subconsciously, to neglect or build on the characteristics of his archetypes. Everyone
has multiple archetypes within them, some more dominate than the others; there
are four universal archetypes that are essential and present in everyone: The
Child, Victim, Prostitute, and Saboteur. The Child is the characteristics
obtained from experiences one has had in childhood; The Victim help people
recognize and prevent dangerous events from occurring; the act of betraying
one’s morals or selling their integrity for financial gains is considered the
act of The Prostitute; and The Saboteur causes self-doubt, but when recognized,
it can help one understand their identity.
It may already be apparent, from the examples of archetypes
given above, that each and every archetype has both light and shadow manifestations.
The dark sides of archetypes are generally what people consider unacceptable or
undesirable characteristics. However, these shadow sides only remain
threatening when one denies their existence. When these dark manifestations are
properly recognized by the owner, they are capable of releasing tremendous
power. For example, a Wounded Child may have experienced a painful and abusive
past that such individual want to escape from. When one looks pass the pain of
their past, the dark aspect of this specific archetype is capable of stimulate
a great sense of compassion and desire for one to protect others. It is only
when one has truly understood the shadow attributes of their archetype will
they be able to stop the self-pitying, the constant blaming of both their
parents and themselves.
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"Sacred Contracts." Myss | Education in spirituality, mysticism, and energy medicine. Accessed
November 12, 2012. http://www.myss.com/.
"Archetype, n." Oxford English Dictionary. Accessed November 20, 2012. http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/ 10344?redirectedFrom=archetype.
by Rachel Li
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